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E-paper: 22-28 May 2020

Viral lies: exposed

By ThePatriot on December 24, 2019

Misinformation through whatsapp forwards —videos and photos — spreads like wildfire. Here is our compilation of fake whatsapp videos that went viral and the reality behind these distorted facts

What was shown: A video of an old man being beaten by a mob in Rajasthan is viral with two claims that a person from the Sikh community was beaten by BJP workers and another false claim that Muslims beat an old man for chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. In the 2 minutes 20 seconds long video, one can hear the old man shouting “Chowkidar Chor Hai, Main bhi ek chowkidar hu, Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, following which men gather around him and beat him. But the video is from Bhilwara, Rajasthan. Local police has said there no political or communal angle in the incident and five people had been arrested for the same.

What was shown: A video showing terrified children onboard a school bus that was attacked in Gurgaon, Haryana allegedly by Karni Sena protesters is being passed off as recent. The clip is viral in the backdrop of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the capital and incidents of clashes between police and protesters reported in northeast Delhi’s Seelampur area.In the 14 seconds video one can spot broken bus windows and school children crying and ducking for cover. But is not recent. The video is of an incident that had taken place on January 24, 2018 when students of a private school narrowly escaped from getting injured when miscreants attacked two buses, while protesting the release of Hindi film Padmaavat.

What was shown: “Arms recovered by the police from Jamia Millia University campus”, reads a comment on a Facebook post shared on December 16, 2019. Two images showing weapons and ammunition are shared with the claim that these were recovered from Jamia Milia Islamia campus. But the photographs was posted along with an article titled, “Mardan university reopens after Mashal murder; weapons recovered during hostel search” in Pakistani newspaper Dawn on May 22, 2017. The weapons were recovered from the hostel of Abdul Wali Khan University in Pakistan’s Mardan district.

What was shown: A photo showing a young man in a burqa is being shared on social media with the text “A female protester of Jamia Milia caught indulging in arson and stone pelting. What talent- translation.” Apart from Facebook, the photograph has been shared widely on Twitter with the same text. But the images were found on a news website from Egypt, Sharkia Today. The report is dated August 25, 2017, and is titled, ‘A young man disguises himself as a woman to kidnap children in the gathering, and the people hand him over to the police’.